Chapter 2 - The Man Inside the House
Mateo read the message twice.
Then another appeared.
“Ask her about the hospital.”
Harper’s blood turned cold.
Mateo looked at her.
“What hospital?”
“I don’t know.”
The office door burst open.
Mateo raised his weapon.
“Boss!”
Liam entered with blood on his sleeve.
Mateo lowered the gun.
“Your blood?”
“No.”
“Who fired?”
“We caught one man near the elevator.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Harper watched Mateo’s expression change.
The man who had touched her stomach moments earlier disappeared.
The feared Mateo Falcone returned.
“Take Harper downstairs.”
“No,” Harper said.
Mateo ignored her.
“Safe room.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
He looked at her.
“Someone knows you’re here.”
“Exactly.”
“And someone just entered my building with a weapon.”
“Which means your security has been compromised.”
Liam glanced at Mateo.
Harper continued.
“If you hide me, we learn nothing.”
Mateo approached.
“You’re pregnant.”
“I noticed.”
“You’re carrying my child.”
“And apparently that makes you think I stopped having a brain.”
His jaw flexed.
Liam suddenly became very interested in the floor.
Mateo lowered his voice.
“You disappeared for eight months.”
“Because somebody inside your organization framed me.”
“And now somebody inside my organization knows you returned.”
“Then stop treating me like luggage and let me help find them.”
For several seconds, they stared at each other.
Mateo finally looked at Liam.
“Bring the prisoner to the conference room.”
Harper exhaled.
“And lock down the building.”
Liam nodded.
“No one leaves.”
Ten minutes later, the captured intruder sat handcuffed to a chair.
He was young.
Maybe twenty-five.
Terrified.
Mateo stood opposite him.
Harper remained near the doorway despite Mateo’s obvious disapproval.
The prisoner looked at her stomach.
That tiny movement did not escape Mateo.
“You know her?” Mateo asked.
“No.”
Mateo leaned closer.
“Try again.”
“I swear.”
“Who sent you?”
“Nobody.”
Liam placed a phone on the table.
“We found this on him.”
The screen showed a photograph of Harper.
Taken that evening.
Inside the penthouse.
Harper stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Mateo looked at Liam.
“Camera?”
“Still checking.”
The prisoner began trembling.
“I didn’t take it.”
“Then who did?”
“It was sent to me.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“What were your instructions?”
The man swallowed.
“Confirm she was here.”
“And then?”
“Leave.”
Mateo stared at him.
“You brought a gun to confirm somebody’s location?”
“They told me I might need it.”
“Who?”
“I never met them.”
Mateo took the phone.
There was one encrypted messaging application.
Most messages had been erased.
One remained.
ROOM 17.
Harper felt her stomach tighten.
F-17.
Seventeen pieces.
Room 17.
“This number keeps appearing,” she said.
Mateo looked at the prisoner.
“What is Room 17?”
“I don’t know.”
Harper approached the table.
“Who paid you?”
“Cash.”
“How much?”
“Ten thousand.”
“Where did you collect it?”
“Union Station.”
“Locker?”
He nodded.
“Number?”
The prisoner looked at Harper.
“Seventeen.”
Nobody spoke.
Harper turned toward Mateo.
“This isn’t random.”
“No.”
“It’s a signature.”
Mateo’s phone rang.
He checked the caller.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
Harper could hear only fragments.
Then Mateo said, “Send it.”
He hung up.
“What happened?” Harper asked.
“The security team found the camera.”
“Where?”
Mateo looked toward the ceiling.
“Inside my office.”
Harper stared.
“How long?”
“They’re checking.”
His phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared.
A tiny hidden camera had been installed behind one of the gold wall sconces.
Someone had been watching Mateo.
Watching his meetings.
Watching Harper return.
Harper felt suddenly exposed.
Mateo touched her elbow.
“We’re leaving.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere only I know.”
They descended through a private elevator into an underground garage.
Two SUVs waited.
Harper stopped.
“No convoy.”
Mateo looked at her.
“It makes us visible.”
“It makes us protected.”
“It makes us predictable.”
Mateo almost argued.
Then he nodded.
“One vehicle.”
Liam drove.
Mateo sat beside Harper in the rear.
Chicago moved past the tinted windows.
Harper watched reflections in storefront glass.
Old habits.
Eight months of fear had taught her how to spot repeated headlights.
“Gray sedan,” she said.
Liam checked the mirror.
“Three cars back?”
“Yes.”
Mateo turned slightly.
“Could be nothing.”
“It followed us through two unnecessary turns.”
Liam accelerated.
The sedan accelerated.
Mateo reached for his phone.
Then Harper saw another vehicle appear ahead.
“Mateo.”
A black SUV entered the intersection.
Liam swerved.
The sedan closed behind them.
They were boxed in.
“Hold on.”
Liam slammed the accelerator.
The SUV clipped their rear quarter.
Harper grabbed the seat.
Mateo wrapped an arm across her instinctively.
Another impact.
The baby kicked violently.
Harper cried out.
Mateo’s face changed.
“Harper?”
“I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Liam turned down an alley.
The SUV could not follow.
The sedan did.
Liam braked suddenly.
The sedan shot past.
He reversed and took another street.
Seconds later, they disappeared into traffic.
Nobody spoke for nearly a minute.
Mateo still had one arm around Harper.
She noticed.
So did he.
Neither moved.
Finally Liam said, “We lost them.”
Mateo looked at Harper.
“We’re going to a doctor.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“And that’s why I left you.”
His expression hardened.
Harper sighed.
“The baby is moving. No bleeding. No contractions. I’m fine.”
“You’re a forensic accountant.”
“And I’ve spent eight months being pregnant.”
Liam coughed to hide a laugh.
Mateo glared at him.
Twenty minutes later, they reached an unmarked townhouse.
No guards.
No obvious cameras.
Mateo unlocked three separate locks.
Inside, the house was surprisingly ordinary.
Harper looked around.
“What is this?”
“My mother’s old house.”
She turned.
“You never told me about it.”
“Nobody knows I kept it.”
“Not even Liam?”
“He knows now.”
Liam checked the rooms and left to establish security outside.
Mateo brought Harper water.
She accepted it.
“Sit.”
“That sounded like an order.”
“It was a desperate suggestion.”
Harper sat.
Mateo knelt in front of her.
His hand hovered near her stomach.
“Can I?”
She nodded.
He placed his palm gently against the curve.
The baby moved.
Mateo closed his eyes briefly.
Harper watched him.
“Were you really looking for me?”
His eyes opened.
“Every day.”
“Why?”
His answer came without hesitation.
“Because I loved you.”
Harper stopped breathing.
Mateo stood.
“I should have said it before you disappeared.”
“Mateo—”
“I thought there would be time.”
His phone interrupted.
Liam.
Mateo answered.
His face changed almost immediately.
“What hospital?”
Harper stood.
Mateo looked at her.
The message.
Ask her about the hospital.
“What happened?” she demanded.
Mateo ended the call.
“Someone accessed your medical records.”
Harper felt cold.
“When?”
“Seven months ago.”
“Who?”
“The request came from a private clinic.”
“What clinic?”
“St. Catherine’s.”
Harper’s glass slipped slightly in her hand.
Mateo noticed.
“You know it.”
Harper stared at him.
St. Catherine’s.
The clinic where she had gone under a false name.
The clinic where she first heard the baby’s heartbeat.
“Nobody knew,” she whispered.
Mateo’s phone vibrated again.
A file arrived.
He opened it.
Harper watched his face become expressionless.
“What?”
Mateo turned the screen toward her.
It was her ultrasound.
Seven weeks pregnant.
Her false name appeared at the top.
Beneath it was a handwritten note.
Not from Harper.
Not from her doctor.
May you like
Three words had been written across the bottom.
“PATERNITY CONFIRMED: FALCONE.”
